Tesla vs ICE in Emergency Evacuation?

[dmurphy]

Yeah, I keep my car at least 80% charged at all times. (more in the winter) You never know. With 80+% charge, I can drive like 2 supercharger radius away

Exactly! I always keep my car at 90%. Never worried about it ...

Just in that example alone, I would pass these Superchargers, at least:
Parsippany
Boonton
Rockaway
Tannersville
Moosic (Scranton)
Binghamton
Ithaca
and Syracuse

The likelihood of an event that takes all of those out in one shot is pretty small. Even Sandy didn't do that. Heck, even the great Northeast Blackout of 2003 didn't do that.

 

[Gasaraki]

I can understand in an ICE car, you let the gas run down before you go fill it up because you have to waste time to go to a gas station and fill up. The great thing about an EV is convenience, you can charge at home and keep it topped up. WHY WOULDN'T YOU? If you have the means? Just don't understand that.

 

[willow_hiller]

I can understand in an ICE car, you let the gas run down before you go fill it up because you have to waste time to go to a gas station and fill up. The great thing about an EV is convenience, you can charge at home and keep it topped up. WHY WOULDN'T YOU? If you have the means? Just don't understand that.

Maybe Tesla needs a Storm Watch mode toggle for their vehicles. Something a user can toggle on or off, that just says "In case of an expected emergency, automatically set my charge limit to 95%."

 

[JasonR67]

Maybe Tesla needs a Storm Watch mode toggle for their vehicles. Something a user can toggle on or off, that just says "In case of an expected emergency, automatically set my charge limit to 95%."

Like the have for the Power Walls.

 

[TheRFMan]

Maybe Tesla needs a Storm Watch mode toggle for their vehicles. Something a user can toggle on or off, that just says "In case of an expected emergency, automatically set my charge limit to 95%."

Is the Tesla app compatible with IFTTT or iOS shortcuts? Sounds like this would be doable based on a weather warning trigger from a weather app.

 

[boriszima]

As much as i like EV, i think for most people ICE would be more advantageous or at least there are far more possible scenarios where it would be. There are just far more gas stations available in most places compared to where you can charge. of course we do not always keep our ICE cars filled to 70-90 gas tank.

 

[CyberGus]

When hurricane Rita hit (the one after Katrina) all of Houston tried to evacuate. The roads were littered with abandoned vehicles that had exhausted their fuel while inching forward for hours.

The massive flooding that followed hurricane Harvey caused a region-wide fuel shortage. Gas stations were empty, even here in Austin which is 150 miles from Houston, and we didn't even get any rain.

In both these cases, I would think an EV would be preferable to ICE, but it all depends on the nature of the apocalypse you're having lol

 

[KenC]

I remember when the Fukushima reactor disaster hit, the only things moving around were Nissan Leafs.

I have a standby generator for my house, but it's not connected to a utility. I've got a LP tank to supply it. Though the generator voltage fluctuates quite a bit, it had no trouble charging up my Volt, way back when. I forgot to unplug it, as charging off a standby generator with limited fuel supply is inefficient and expensive! I'm sure it could charge my Tesla, but only in an emergency.

If the zombie apocalypse came, I could always throw a small 50-lb 2000 watt inverter generator in the trunk, and a small gas can, and use that to help me escape the zombie horde. I suppose a gallon would run for about 8 to 10 hrs, and add about 50+ miles of range. That would be desperation, but rather that than have my brains eaten.

 

[Knightshade]

As much as i like EV, i think for most people ICE would be more advantageous or at least there are far more possible scenarios where it would be. There are just far more gas stations available in most places compared to where you can charge. of course we do not always keep our ICE cars filled to 70-90 gas tank.

naah... vastly lower consumption sitting in the heavy traffic to get out-and you keep it charged at home so you don't have to care if all the stations in the first 50 miles are sold out of fuel because you had to flee when the tank hadn't been filled recently.

Plus- autopilot to handle 90% of the boring work of sitting in said traffic to get out.

Meanwhile the gas cars will be burning fuel like crazy idling along at 5 mph stop and go, and flooding the stations along the highway to fill up.

 

[DaveRZ]

Yeah, it really depends on the situation, and how many other people are fleeing an area. Overall I'd agree that an EV is probably better for many of the reasons listed here. However, there are other situations to consider.

If you run out of juice, your car is a brick on the side of the road. No one is coming by with a portable supercharger to help you. In an ICE car, someone COULD bring/loan you a couple gallons of gas, or you could walk to a gas station.

Right now there are super-long lines at gas stations during an emergency, but as EVs become more popular, there will be super long lines at chargers too (and charging is a whole lot slower). Living here in SoCal, there are already lines daily at most superchargers in San Diego and Los Angeles areas.

BUT, as others have pointed out, gas stations run out of gas during emergencies, whereas chargers will work as long as the power is working.

Now if you're talking Zombie Apocalypse-type emergency, then you gotta go with gas. You can find ways of pumping gas out of the underground tanks or other cars for quite some time until the gas all goes bad, but once the power is out, you aren't going to charge your EV (at least not without lightning and a clock tower)

 

[Rutgere]

You just have to get the best of both worlds

Tesla-generator

• Rutgere
• Oct 29, 2020
• 1

tesla generator

 

[Knightshade]

Yeah, it really depends on the situation, and how many other people are fleeing an area. Overall I'd agree that an EV is probably better for many of the reasons listed here. However, there are other situations to consider.

If you run out of juice, your car is a brick on the side of the road. No one is coming by with a portable supercharger to help you. In an ICE car, someone COULD bring/loan you a couple gallons of gas, or you could walk to a gas station.

Right now there are super-long lines at gas stations during an emergency, but as EVs become more popular, there will be super long lines at chargers too (and charging is a whole lot slower). Living here in SoCal, there are already lines daily at most superchargers in San Diego and Los Angeles areas.

BUT, as others have pointed out, gas stations run out of gas during emergencies, whereas chargers will work as long as the power is working.

Now if you're talking Zombie Apocalypse-type emergency, then you gotta go with gas. You can find ways of pumping gas out of the underground tanks or other cars for quite some time until the gas all goes bad, but once the power is out, you aren't going to charge your EV (at least not without lightning and a clock tower)

For a normal evacuation, you're almost certainly not going to be driving far enough to need to recharge an EV, even if you sit in a lot of traffic on the way, since you're gonna have a "full" (or 90% or whatever) tank when you leave home, idling is "cheap" fuel wise- and usually 100 miles is more than plenty to get away from a hurricane or fires or what have you.

But 100 miles in a gas car you don't wake up "full" every morning and which eats significant fuel at idle, is a less certain proposition.


Now- Zombie apocalypse- that's YMMV.... do you have a home base? If so then solar and batteries lets you charge the EV a lot more easily than you can make your own gas (or even crappy biodiesel).

If you're on the move, yeah gas would have to be the way to go.

 

[dmurphy]

If you're on the move, yeah gas would have to be the way to go.

Bring a generator and you have the best of both worlds.

 

[Gasaraki]

I remember when the Fukushima reactor disaster hit, the only things moving around were Nissan Leafs.

I have a standby generator for my house, but it's not connected to a utility. I've got a LP tank to supply it. Though the generator voltage fluctuates quite a bit, it had no trouble charging up my Volt, way back when. I forgot to unplug it, as charging off a standby generator with limited fuel supply is inefficient and expensive! I'm sure it could charge my Tesla, but only in an emergency.

If the zombie apocalypse came, I could always throw a small 50-lb 2000 watt inverter generator in the trunk, and a small gas can, and use that to help me escape the zombie horde. I suppose a gallon would run for about 8 to 10 hrs, and add about 50+ miles of range. That would be desperation, but rather that than have my brains eaten.

The gas generator would be loud. You'll be eaten.

 

[Gasaraki]

Yeah, it really depends on the situation, and how many other people are fleeing an area. Overall I'd agree that an EV is probably better for many of the reasons listed here. However, there are other situations to consider.

If you run out of juice, your car is a brick on the side of the road. No one is coming by with a portable supercharger to help you. In an ICE car, someone COULD bring/loan you a couple gallons of gas, or you could walk to a gas station.

Right now there are super-long lines at gas stations during an emergency, but as EVs become more popular, there will be super long lines at chargers too (and charging is a whole lot slower). Living here in SoCal, there are already lines daily at most superchargers in San Diego and Los Angeles areas.

BUT, as others have pointed out, gas stations run out of gas during emergencies, whereas chargers will work as long as the power is working.

Now if you're talking Zombie Apocalypse-type emergency, then you gotta go with gas. You can find ways of pumping gas out of the underground tanks or other cars for quite some time until the gas all goes bad, but once the power is out, you aren't going to charge your EV (at least not without lightning and a clock tower)

SparkCharge Strikes Million Dollar Deal On Shark Tank For Roadie Portable EV Charger

 

[RayK]

That ONE SparkCharge Roadie is good enough for about 70 miles of range. Is that enough to escape the brain-eating zombie horde?

And who is going to re-charge the Roadie and from what source if the grid is down?

 

[KenC]

The gas generator would be loud. You'll be eaten.

Hmmm.... didn't think of that, but these 2000w inverter generators are surprisingly quiet. Only about 54db or so. During a zombie apocalypse, there'll be tons of regular generators running that'll be alot louder. I could always hide my generator-charging Tesla beside a line of Ford F150s idling waiting to fill up.

 

[KenC]

Yeah, it really depends on the situation, and how many other people are fleeing an area. Overall I'd agree that an EV is probably better for many of the reasons listed here. However, there are other situations to consider.

If you run out of juice, your car is a brick on the side of the road. No one is coming by with a portable supercharger to help you. In an ICE car, someone COULD bring/loan you a couple gallons of gas, or you could walk to a gas station.

Right now there are super-long lines at gas stations during an emergency, but as EVs become more popular, there will be super long lines at chargers too (and charging is a whole lot slower). Living here in SoCal, there are already lines daily at most superchargers in San Diego and Los Angeles areas.

BUT, as others have pointed out, gas stations run out of gas during emergencies, whereas chargers will work as long as the power is working.

Now if you're talking Zombie Apocalypse-type emergency, then you gotta go with gas. You can find ways of pumping gas out of the underground tanks or other cars for quite some time until the gas all goes bad, but once the power is out, you aren't going to charge your EV (at least not without lightning and a clock tower)

In an emergency, every outlet is a potential fuel source, not just superchargers.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

In an emergency, every outlet is a potential fuel source, not just superchargers.

Exactly! With the right adapter (and an extension cord or two), there are billions of possible charging locations.

 

[Gasaraki]

That ONE SparkCharge Roadie is good enough for about 70 miles of range. Is that enough to escape the brain-eating zombie horde?

And who is going to re-charge the Roadie and from what source if the grid is down?

Better start pedaling. Attach it to a stationary bike and pedal to recharge it.